


Pride (and very little prejudice actually) [HP/DM]

by cassblack



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Coffeeshop AU, M/M, Muggle AU, Oblivious!Harry, also this is the first fic that I've actually finished wow are yall proud, fluffy fluff, pining!Draco, pining!Harry, pretty gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2019-10-22 11:12:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17661479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassblack/pseuds/cassblack
Summary: Harry Potter is an oblivious dumbass. That much is certain. It seems obvious, to everyone that looks, that he's falling in love, but somehow this fact seems to escape his notice. His friends decide that they're going to do something about it.[I'm shit at summaries just read it]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time that I've actually decided to stick with something that I've written, (and hopefully finish it), so forgive me if it's crap.

‘I have a five page essay due in tomorrow and my laptop’s at three per cent, and you’re sitting in front of the only plug socket in this entire place, so I don’t care how intimidatingly attractive you are, I’m sitting here’

‘That sounded less terrible in my head’ the black haired boy added as an afterthought, before sliding into the coffee shop booth opposite Draco, plugging in his laptop and beginning to type.

Draco had no idea what to say to this, so he said nothing at all. The black haired boy seemed to engrossed in his work to notice that he hadn’t said anything, so it didn’t seem to matter.

Draco took advantage of his absolute obliviousness to the world, and studied the boy in front of him. He had black hair, messed from him running his hands through it- a habit that Draco immediately picked up on. His eyes were a dark green, with flecks of brown, and lined faintly with black. His eyebrows were perfect, and his cheekbones were so subtly highlighted that Draco almost didn’t realise. He was wearing a pale pink hoodie and black ripped skinny jeans, and Draco estimated him to be over six foot tall. From the way he had spoken so confidently earlier and his appearance, Draco would peg him as the social type, a charmer, and practically the definition of an extrovert. The complete opposite of Draco.

The boy still seemed to be completely focused on his essay and apparently hadn’t noticed him staring, luckily for Draco. He decided to ignore him unless contact was initiated from the other side. He took a gulp of his coffee, then turned back to his book.

\---

About half an hour later, Draco was startled from his reading trance by a large groan from the boy opposite him. He had pushed the laptop into the centre of the table to make space for his head, which was now resting on folded arms on the table.

‘Uh- um… What’s the essay about?’ Draco asked tentatively. He was almost painfully unable to converse with strangers, and his social anxiety didn’t really help either. Talking to anyone outside of his friendship group was difficult for him, and usually very awkward for anyone involved. Draco knew that he was terrible at social interactions, and could not start, or hold, a conversation with strangers, and therefore tried to avoid it whenever possible. He had no idea what had prompted him to talk to a stranger (and one who had called him ‘intimidatingly attractive’ no less).

‘Some stupid Shakespeare play. I hate Shakespeare. I hate bloody plays.’ The black haired boy lifted his head out of his arms to look at Draco with a piercing gaze, but stayed resting on the table. 

Draco actually loved plays, and Shakespeare, whilst he was not Draco’s favourite playwright, was undeniably talented. He loved English in general- the freedom of expression was so much more appealing than maths or sciences.

‘Can I read it?’ Draco asked hesitantly. He wasn’t sure if he had stepped over the line of what was deemed normal conversation, but the boy nodded.

‘Yeah sure…’

There was a short silence in which Draco had the chance to read the introduction, before he was interrupted by the black haired boy again.

‘I need a nap. Wake me up at some point will you?’ he asked, then dropped his head back onto the table.

If asking to read a half finished essay was overstepping, then this was a giant leap over the line, but the black haired boy seemed totally okay with it.

Draco started to have a mini panic. What if he was supposed to be somewhere at a certain time and Will let him sleep past it? What if he woke him up too early and the boy got annoyed? What if someone tried to steal his laptop? Should Draco go after the guy or wake up the boy? Draco was not comfortable with this situation at all.

He ignored the terrified screaming going on in his brain and focused on the essay in front of him.

_Just think about the essay, Draco. It’ll be fine._

The black haired boy was asleep by now, in a position that did not seem comfortable at all, and in a crowded cafe relying on a complete stranger to look after his stuff and to wake him up at some point.

_Just ignore him. Read the essay. Don’t think about it. It’ll be fine._

And so he took his own advice, and started to read.

\---

His essay was ok, but it wasn’t great. Draco made a few adjustments while he was reading, mainly to spellings and grammar mistakes. When he was done, he looked at the boy in front of him, still asleep.

Currently the essay was at two pages, and it was 3.49pm. Draco didn’t know whether to wake the boy. The coffee shop closed at 5, which was plenty of time to write three more pages. The boy had even produced a plan for him to work with. Yes, it only consisted of about twenty words, with an average of two describing each proposed paragraph, but it couldn’t be that hard, right? And so Draco began to type.

\---

Harry was shaken awake about an hour later. He looked up to see a young and apparently terrified barista nudging him gently.

‘Oh- uh- sorry sir, I didn’t want to wake you, but, um, we’re closing soon…’ she said, looking at her shoes.

Oh fuck. The essay.

‘Oh no, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’ll just get my stuff together and I’ll get going.’

Harry saw his laptop, closed on the table in front of him. His copy of Romeo and Juliet was next to it. The cup of tea he had ordered about two hours ago, and only drunk half of before falling asleep, was finished. He shoved his laptop and book into his bag and got up to go. He smiled at the waitress on the way out, then hopped on the bus home.

\---

Sitting on his bed, Harry tentatively opened his laptop. Stuck to the black screen was a bright pink Post-It Note, with a message written in a small, neat hand.

‘I hope you don’t mind that I finished your tea. Good luck with the essay :) -Draco’

Hmm. His name was Draco. Cute.

Harry peeled the note off his screen, and turned it on. He plugged in his headphones, found some music, and opened up his google docs. He read through what he had already written, but it seemed different. Less… terrible.

He was pretty sure he had written two pages in total, but the essay kept going, with things that he didn’t remember writing. There were five complete pages, in his style of writing (except better), which he had not written.

He picked up Draco’s note again, and reread it. ‘Good luck with the essay’ he had written, with a smiley face.

Damn.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty short, but the next one is coming soon! Hope you enjoy :)

Draco sat down in the same booth exactly a week later, and pulled a wad of revision notes out of his backpack now lying at his feet. His GCSE’s started in less than two months, and he was already cramming revision into every possible minute.

Today was a science day. He started with Biology, seeing as he understood approximately 3% of what they were supposed to know. He got out his flashcards and began reading through them.

About half an hour later, the black haired boy dropped into the seat opposite him, placing his tea and laptop on the table opposite Draco.

‘Hello again.’ he said, flipping over the flashcard to read the other side.

‘I handed the essay in on Monday. I got an A.’ the black haired boy said bluntly.

‘Well done. That’s great’ Draco mumbled, not going to admit to writing it at all.

‘Hmmm…’ The black haired boy didn’t grace him with a proper response, raising an eyebrow at him. He knew exactly what had happened- the essay didn’t write itself, but if Draco was going to be difficult about it, then so was he.

Silence once again descended on the table, as both boys started studying. Draco didn’t know what subject the other boy was revising, but by the small, broken up typing periods, it seemed he was doing a vocab test.

Draco once again took the opportunity to stare at the boy. His hair was slightly damp, and he wasn’t wearing any eyeliner today, but instead had a pair of black glasses on. He was wearing a STAR Labs sweatshirt, a nice reference to The Flash that Draco appreciated very much.

Draco decided it would be best to go back to his Biology, having realised that he really did need every moment that he could get. The flashcards seemed to taunt him, the beautifully highlighted notes only serving to make the things he didn’t know more noticable. He sighed slightly, downed the remainder of his coffee, then got back to reading.

\---

Another half hour passed in silence. Draco had all but forgotten that the other boy was there, until he felt someone’s eyes on him. He looked up to find that the dark haired boy opposite him was watching him absentmindedly. Draco felt the blood rush to his cheeks (a significant disadvantage of being so pale), and put his head down.

‘Oh. Shit. Uh- sorry, that’s probably weird.’ The other boy had noticed that he had been caught, and was also turning rather red. ‘Did you bleach your hair, or is it naturally that colour?’

Draco was suddenly very glad that he had decided to wash his hair that morning.

‘No, it’s natural. Everyone in the family has it. Well, two of my cousins had dark hair, but they were disowned, so they don’t really count.’ he replied, with a little laugh.

‘Oh damn, your family disown people?’ The other boy was very obviously shocked, and Draco wondered what it would be like to have all of your emotions on show like that, for anyone to see.

‘Uh- yeah? Kind of. It’s a long story.’ Draco wished that he had never brought it up.

‘Damn.’ he repeated, ‘Well, anyway, I only asked because I tried to bleach my hair last year, but it looked so shit I had to turn it blue instead. Yours doesn’t though. It’s pretty hot.’

‘I- uuh- what?’ Draco’s brain seemed to shut down suddenly, leaving him opening and closing his mouth wordlessly.

‘Anyway, nice to meet you. I’m Harry, by the way. Harry Potter.’

Draco’s brain still didn’t seem to be responding, but somehow he managed to reply, ‘Draco Malfoy.’

‘I’ve got to run, but are you coming here tomorrow?’

‘Yeah, probably around 2?’ It came out as more of a question than an actual response, but the black haired boy- no, Harry, didn’t seem to notice. It was odd now that he had a name. It made him seem more human.

‘Well, I’ll see you at 2 then!’

And just like that, he was gone.

Draco sat, staring at the space where Harry had been, silently, for about ten minutes, before he came to his senses and began to pack up his things as well. He wasn’t going to get much more work done now, he was far too preoccupied with his own thoughts.

Even as he left the coffee shop, Harry’s words were still going round and round in his head.

_He called me attractive. And hot._

_Fuck._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment + give constructive criticism! I would love to know what you think + how I could improve :)

‘For the last time Pansy, I am Not stalking him.’

Pansy could hear the capital N from her seat on Draco’s bed opposite him.

‘Draco, love, you’re literally going through his spotify playlists. That’s stalking.’

Draco didn’t dignify this with a response, but instead huffed, and continued scrolling.

‘I’m surprised you haven’t accidentally liked a three-year-old instagram photo yet.’

‘Oh I did.’ Draco said, offhandedly. ‘I just deleted my account and made a new one.’

‘Oh my GOD Draco, what the actual fuck.’

‘Well, what was I supposed to do?’

‘Uh, I don’t know, maybe not stalk him? Dumbass.’

‘Oh my god, Pans, he has an ABBA playlist, I think I’m in love.’ Draco flopped onto his back with a sigh.

‘Draco. My dearest, darling friend. Kindly shut the fuck up.’

Draco simply sighed again, and picked up his copy of Romeo and Juliet off the floor.

\---

Three hours later, Draco walked into the coffee shop fifteen minutes late (due, in part, to seven outfit changes), to find Harry already sitting in the booth with a folder and some books spread out in front of him.

‘Oh, hey. I thought you weren’t gonna come.’

Draco was sure that he must have imagined the smile that came across Harry’s face when he saw him. His hair was wet again, but somehow still managed to stick up wildly, and was creating a dark wet patch where it lay against Harry’s bright red hoodie.

‘Sorry. I got caught up at home.’ Draco slipped into the seat opposite him and dropped his backpack on the floor.

‘Nah, don’t worry about it. Also, completely unrelated, do you understand what this shit is, because I don’t, and I have a worksheet to do for tomorrow and you’re smart’ He pushed the exercise book across the table to Draco.

 

‘Yeah, sure, it’s Le Chatelier's principle. Why would you assume that I’m smart?’

‘Duh, you wrote my essay for me, also exams are still two months away, and you’re already revising.’

‘Wait, I’m sorry, we have seven weeks until our real life GCSEs, and you haven’t started revising yet?’

‘Uh, no? My friend started in January, but I can’t really be bothered. I mean, all of our lessons at school is basically just revising anyway. Anyway, more importantly, can you teach me all of the Chemistry syllabus in seven weeks?’

Draco laughed slightly, then turned his eyes to the book in front of him. Harry’s writing was big and messy, barely legible, and his book was a mess of sheets that hadn’t been stuck in. ‘Which bit don’t you understand?’

‘Uh, all of it?’ Harry laughed nervously and began fiddling with his hoodie string. ‘Well, no, I get the bit about equilibrium and forwards and backwards reactions, but after that not much.’

Draco shifted forwards in his seat, and collected his thoughts. ‘So…’

\---

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was sitting, looking as though he had been granted enlightenment by God himself.

‘Oh my god. That makes so much sense! How did I not get that? Actually, no, my teacher’s absolutely useless. But anyway, thank you so so so much, I am eternally indebted.’

Draco blushed, and took a gulp of his coffee in an attempt to hide it.

‘D’you want another drink? I feel like I owe you.’

‘Uh, yeah, if you’re going up there a cappuccino would be nice, thanks.’ Draco reached into his bag to get his wallet, but Harry simply laughed.

‘Doesn’t it kind of defeat the point of me buying it to not owe you if you don’t let me pay?’

He slid out of the booth and had walked off before Draco could say anything more.

By the time he got back with the drinks, Draco was already engrossed in his notes, and therefore didn’t notice Harry’s small smile as he watched Draco nibble the end of his pen.

\---

Draco came back to his senses fully when Harry began to pack up his books. When he looked at his watch, he realised that over an hour had passed, and it was nearly time for him to leave too.

‘Hey, I was thinking, would it be alright if I invited my friend to come tomorrow? I feel like you two would get on well, and I promise that she wouldn’t disturb you work.’

Draco felt his stomach turning. First of all, he wasn’t great with new people, and, whilst he was sure that it wouldn’t be too bad, and he could always make up an excuse if it was. But secondly, and worse, Harry had a female friend that he wanted to introduce Draco to. Surely that didn’t mean… He had said _friend_ , and Draco shouldn’t assume anything before meeting her. Maybe she was just a friend. Anyway, what did it matter? A boy as outgoing, friendly, and confident as Harry couldn’t _not_ be straight. Suddenly he realised that he had spaced out, and that Harry was looking at him strangely.

‘Uh- sorry, I spaced out for a moment there. But yeah, that would be fine.’ He briefly considered asking Pansy to come with him tomorrow to make it a bit better, but the thought of Pansy, knowing what she did, to be in contact with Harry, especially given their conversation earlier that day, made Draco nearly laugh.

‘Cool, I’ll see you after school then. I finish at half three tomorrow, so I could probably be here about half four?’

‘Yeah, sure, that would be great. I’ll see you then.’ Draco smiled at him, and watched as Harry swung his bag over his shoulder and left.

He decided to put the issue out of his mind, and focus on his work. There was no point worrying about it now. After all, worrying only meant that you had to suffer twice, right?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ha i'm supposed to be revising english but instead i wrote this :))))

Draco arrived at the coffee shop the next day 20 minutes before Harry was due to arrive. And he definitely, absolutely did not spend 18 of those 20 minutes sitting with his notes out in front of him thinking about Harry. Of course not.

When Harry finally walked into the coffee shop, Draco was (thankfully) too engrossed in his notes to notice. He only looked up when three coffees were placed rather ungracefully on the table opposite him.

‘I bought you a coffee.’ Harry said, sitting down on the seat opposite him, followed by a girl, presumably the aforementioned friend.

‘Oh. Thanks. Now I owe you.’ He pulled the drink towards himself, shrinking his shoulders under the piercing gaze of the girl across the table from him.

She had a small, freckled face, and dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail. She was incredibly pretty, and Draco could see why Harry fancied her.

‘Hi! I’m Hermione. Harry’s told me all about you.’ Her voice was sweet and seemed happy.

Both Harry and Draco went bright red at this, and Hermione raised one of her eyebrows, looking between them.

‘Hm. Interesting.’

Harry smacked her, going even more red.

‘Anyways! What are you studying?’

Draco, very thankful for the change in subject, reopened his history textbook. ‘History. The Russian revolution. I was gonna move onto England in a bit, but I’m happy to do something else if you don’t want to?’ He phrased it as a question, suddenly very aware that they might not take history.

‘Sounds great! I did Russia the other day, but it would be great to go over it. Harry, of course, is absolutely useless, so needs all the help he can get.’ She replied, reaching into her bag to pull out a MacBook.

‘You know, I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have introduced you two…’ Harry grumbled under his breath, also getting ready to work.

\---

Draco hadn’t realised how much time had passed until Hermione decided that they should take a break. It turned out they had been working for an hour and a half, and had covered the majority of the syllabus in that time.

Hermione was as smart as she was beautiful, and in her presence Draco felt both enlightened and incredibly stupid. Throughout the study session he had been trying not to obsess over how Harry would stare at her with a small smile that Draco wished oh so badly would be directed at him, or how he would brush her hand with his whenever possible, or how halfway through, he had turned to sit sideways with his legs draped across her. Admittedly, she did push him off immediately, but with an embarrassed laugh in Draco’s direction that meant that she didn’t actually mind, but was doing it for his sake.

Both Harry and Hermione had taken the opportunity to pick up their phones and start rapidly typing, immediately making Draco worried that they were talking about him. However, Hermione put hers down after about thirty seconds, easing his worries, and asked him to come with her to get another drink.

‘So. I’ve seen the way you look at Harry.’ she said, standing in the queue on the other side of the coffee shop, thankfully.

‘Uh- I- what? Nope. I don’t look at him, I- just-’

Thankfully, she cut him off with a hard look, before he could say anything too incriminating.

‘Fuck- I- I’m sorry. I know that you two are, you know, a- it’s nothing. I’ll stop coming here if you want. Sorry.’ Draco suddenly realised that his shoes were indeed an awfully interesting thing to look at.

Hermione laughed. ‘No, no, no. You have got completely the wrong idea. Me and Harry are friends, nothing more. I was just saying it because he would shut up about you since you met, and then today I’ve seen how he looks at you.’

‘He- I- what?’

‘But, I have to tell you, he’s the most painfully oblivious person I know. Either take matters into your own hands, or be prepared to wait a very long time…’ She smiled at him- a warm, genuine smile that would have soothed Draco’s endless worries if he wasn’t so paranoid.

He took a second to gather his thoughts, then replied, making sure to keep his face as neutral as possible. ‘I appreciate your concern, but I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. Harry is just a stranger who I happen to regularly share a table with. I don’t look at him, and he certainly doesn’t _look _at me.’__

__‘Hm.’ she replied, raising her eyebrow at him. Thankfully, they were next to be served, and she didn’t get a chance to say anything else._ _

__By the time they got back to the table with her hot chocolate, Draco had resolved to have nothing further to do with either of them, and according to this new internal decree, began to pack up his things._ _

__Harry looked up at him, surprised, through his adorably large glasses. ‘Huh? Are you going?’_ _

__‘Yeah- uh- my mother wants me home.’ By this time he had finished, and stood up to leave. Hermione was looking at him, and he felt as though she could see into his soul._ _

__Draco took a deep breath, tried to ignore her, and muttered a quick ‘bye’ before rushing out._ _

__By the time he got home, his eyes were full of tears, and he could barely breathe._ _


End file.
